Top Bunk

DAY 28

⌚ 6:00 AM ON THE DOT

El can barely hear the horn screech GOOD FUCKING MORNING over the steady beat of her heart in her ears. She stiffens slightly when her surroundings come into focus. The wooden frame of the bunk bed encasing her. The young sunlight entering through a very dirty window. The warm air almost choking her. The overwhelming strawberry scent wafting into her nostrils. The breasts pressed into her back.

Granted, there are two layers of clothing (see: two overly large pajama tee shirts) separating El's sharp shoulder blades and Grace's front...area. Still, El's breath hitches when Grace shifts slightly and her pale arms grip El tighter.

"Hey," Grace mutters into El's shoulder.

"Morning," El lets out a shaky breath. Grace's lips brushing her shoulder should not be a thing.

"What time is it?"

El tries not to mention how Grace has woken up frighteningly calm. She isn't sure if that's a good thing or not. "Did you not hear the horn?"

"No," Grace replies. "Too busy sleeping."

"Get up. We might be late if you don't take a bath right now."

"How about we sleep a bit more and take a bath together? It'll save time."

"Grace." El shuts her eyes, hoping that the heat coming up her neck is just due to the fact that Grace's arm is draped over it.

"El." Grace's voice is lazy. Her (much shorter) legs are tangled with El's. Her hair is like spun gold against the pillow under their heads. It's not as if El notices any of that or whatever.

El swallows, the sound of her saliva sliding down her throat a lot louder than she expected.

"I was kidding," Grace says good-naturedly. She pries herself from El slowly, and El almost regrets not taking her up on the offer (key word is almost) because the bottom bunk is actually really empty without someone pressed up to her. El leans into the empty space and she ends up on the floor.

Great.

Grace, stifling giggles, tosses her hair over her shoulder and proceeds to flounce to the bathroom, without so much as checking if El is okay. The nerve, after El has picked her up from falling from the top bunk numerous times. El grunts, peering at Grace through the - very frizzy, untamed - curtain of her hair.

"Oh, it is a lot funnier on the other side of it," Grace comments, cackling as she shuts the bathroom door.

"Fuck." Because of course Grace has to be unbearably hot while cackling, of all things? Really?

⌚ 10:29 AM

"You do realize this is the last time we're having a music jam this summer," Louise tells the four other female counselors.

"Well, shit," Sky says under her breath, making sure no camper will hear her or Lionel will be at her throat.

"At least we're ending it on a great theme, right?" Mari says. "Even if we never actually used to do themes before this year."

The theme for today's Weekly Bonfire Music Jam - the last one El will experience for awhile...maybe forever, who knows - is one, if she's being truthful to herself, that she's only mildly excited about.

Musicals.

It isn't Disney, but at least she isn't dreading it like goddamn Throwback. (Granted, she didn't particularly dread throwback, but she wasn't looking forward to it.) El is always ready to appreciate a good musical, sure, but she'd much rather sit at home and watch a movie about cartoon princesses or ultra-smart animals. (This is why The Lion King has to be her favorite stage musical.)